I'm Not That Girl
by The-Flame-Faerie
Summary: All her life, she’d wanted one perfect moment with the unattainable man of her childhood fantasy, and now it was finally here. And the clock began to chime.


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**I'm Not That Girl **

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_Hands touch, eyes meet  
Sudden silence, sudden heat  
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl  
He could be that boy  
But I'm not that girl_

_Don't dream too far,  
Don't lose sight of who you are  
Don't remember that rush of joy  
He could be that boy  
I'm not that girl_

_Every so often we long to steal  
To the land of what might have been  
But that doesn't soften the ache we feel  
When reality sets back in_

_Blithe smile, lithe limb  
She is winsome, she wins him  
Gold hair with a gentle curl  
That's the girl he chose, and heaven knows  
I'm not that girl_

_Don't wish, don't start  
Wishing only wounds the heart  
I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl  
There's a girl I know, he loves her so  
I'm not that girl _

* * *

_She didn't know why she was searching, or even who she was searching for, but she knew it was important._

_Dainty feet poked out from underneath her full white skirt as she raced through the crowd of masked dancers, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she searched for that elusive face._

_Somehow she knew he would be able to help her._

_She span around, peering at the faces, hoping to see through the masks; hoping for that sudden flash of recognition that would tell her why she was here._

_And then he was in front of her, his hand captured hers, and pulled her closer, the other arm snaking around her waist, holding her to him._

_She looked up at him through her lashes, and immediately mismatched cerulean captured the emerald that sparkled with innocence in the ballroom light._

_And suddenly, it all didn't seem to matter._

_She lost herself in those eyes, held by the deep azure, sending shivers dancing up her spine, and gentle cold touches raising goosebumps on her alabaster skin._

_It was almost as if he had seen inside her – seen her longing for such a romantic moment._

_Boy meets girl._

_Boy falls in love with girl._

_Boy takes girl dancing and they share a perfect first kiss under the stars._

_He could __be__ that boy._

_He span her, drawing her from her thoughts, before guiding her in a dizzying waltz across the marble floor._

_Breaking their locked gazes, he leaned forward, singing softly in her ear as he led her._

_His hot breath tickled her ear, sending a fresh wave of shivers down her spine, and making her heart leap in a manner she was unaccustomed to. It left her feeling warm; feeling as though the blood rushing through her veins was far too hot, spreading a fuzzy feeling through each limb._

_Somewhere, in the back of her mind, something screamed at her that this wasn't going to last, but at that moment, she didn't care._

_She rested her head on his chest, and listened to the steady pulse of his heart, and the slow sound of his breath as he sang to her. She closed her eyes and let his music wash over her, the notes soothing her further until she felt weightless in his strong arms._

_Around her, courtiers frowned their disapproval, and women snarled in envy, making a point to tousle her as they danced around the pair. But still, she remained calm in his strong arms._

_Get out, Sarah_

_The voice in her head; her conscience whispered, but she couldn't. Not now. Not when she felt the safest that she had in years._

_Like she'd finally found the place where she belonged. She'd found that boy._

_But even so, she knew sometime this would end – they couldn't dance forever, could they?_

_She opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking back up at his handsome features. Once more, their eyes locked and she lost herself._

_Sarah? Sarah who?_

_His hand, encased in soft white leather came up, pulling her chin up and he began to lean in._

_She could feel his hot breath on her lips now, there was barely any distance between them._

'_This is it,' she thought, 'This is what I was searching for,' _

_All her life, she'd wanted one perfect moment with the unattainable man of her childhood fantasy, and now it was finally here._

_There was a hair's breadth between them now, and he tightened his grip around her waist, allowing the hand on her chin to trace a path along her jaw, sliding into her mess of sable curls._

_This was it._

And the clock began to chime.

_The spell was broken._

_She wrenched herself from his grasp._

'_How could I be so stupid?" she thought, furiously, 'I almost lost sight of myself,'_

_She pushed through the other masked dancers, shoving them from her path as they mocked and taunted her._

_When she broke free of the crowd, Sarah ran to the edge of the crystal and searched._

_Her gaze caught on a chair and she grabbed it, lifting the furniture as easily as she could._

_But before she lashed out, she turned back._

_His head was turned from her, the dainty hand of another woman turning him to her, holding his eyes._

_Sarah bit her lower lip._

_The blonde woman gave the man a blithe, dazzling smile, trailing her other hand up his arm to his shoulder, letting her fingers trace the embroidered pattern on his vest._

_She was winsome, Sarah realised, and she turned from the scene._

_She wins him._

_Sarah threw her chair._

_As the crystal shattered around her, she gave a sad smile._

_He could be that boy._

'_But I'm not that girl,'_

.1.1.1.1.1.

Sarah Williams sat up in a cold sweat. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide and her legs drawn up to her chest.

The brunette rested her forehead on her knees and grit her teeth, willing herself not to cry.

It had been seven and a half years now since she'd run that Labyrinth, and still he haunted her in her dreams.

Each night, she was back in that crystal ballroom, stealing herself away to the land of what might have been.

And each night it was the same. It never helped, her dreams. All it did was make her ache all the more for him, the moment she awoke.

For _that boy_.

She felt the hot tear slide down her cheek before she realised she was crying, and Sarah scolded herself.

She was being ridiculous, she knew it.

The Goblin King was no mere _boy_. He was a King. A Fae king. And most certainly not interested in a mere mortal chit like herself.

Besides, after that tormenting crystal dream, he'd made his choice.

Blonde hair with a gentle curl. _That's_ the girl he chose.

And heaven knows she was not _that_ girl.

.1.1.1.1.1.

"_I wish..."_ Sarah sat at her window, staring out over the empty park, bathed in moonlight, "_I wish_..."

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to say those last words that would bring the Goblin king to her.

Sarah didn't think she could take the rejection.

Besides, what if he _did_ feel the same? It couldn't work. He could not live above, and she couldn't below. She was mortal.

She was not made to live among the Fae.

The _other__was_ Fae.

Sarah closed her emerald eyes and rested her head against the windowsill, taking a long, slow breath.

"I wish..." she sighed out, re-opening her eyes to glance into her darkened room.

Her long fingers came up and raked through her hair.

_Don't wish, Sarah. Wishing only wounds the heart_.

She slid from her seat and pattered through her room, before sliding back into her bed and under the covers.

Her last words before she drifted to sleep were simple and so soft that any human would have to strain to hear them.

"_I wish I was that girl_,"

A million miles away in another realm of reality, a Fae crowed victoriously.

_As soon as Sarah slipped into the dreamscape, he found her and gathered her into his arms, claiming her lips with his own. _

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_ **a/n**__ Okay, um. It's 2.55 in the morning. Cut me some slack for the utter bad-ness of this? I just was listening to the song and so much of it spoke to me about Sarah and Jareth._

_Plus, I'm procrastinating my "Why Labyrinth is an imaginative journey" essay because I fear that I will begin talking about how the tightness of Jareth's pants is a conflict between the real/ideal dichotomy._

_Think about it._

_Review most welcome!_

_Cheers,  
The Flame Faerie_


End file.
